More than 43,000 people have arrived into the State from Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24th, new statistics show.
This amounts to an increase of just under 4,500 in three weeks, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said in the fourth in a series of information bulletins on Ukrainians in Ireland.
The CSO said that 43,256 personal public service numbers had been issued to individuals from Ukraine under the temporary protection directive by the week ending July 10th.
Women aged 20 and over accounted for almost half of the arrivals to date, while children and teenagers accounted for 37 per cent.
The highest percentage of the arrivals from Ukraine — some 39 per cent or 17,034 people — were categorised as “one parent with children” reflecting the fact that many spouses and partners have remained behind in Ukraine. Men of military age have been prohibited from leaving the country.
Of those who attended employment support events organised by the State, two-thirds had encountered challenges in finding work because they did not have proficiency in English.
Of the 13,514 arrivals who attended Intreo public employment services, 9,645 had recorded previous occupations, with a third classifying themselves as working in “professional” services.
Dublin’s north inner city had the highest number of arrivals from Ukraine at 1,410, while proportionally Ennistimon in Co Clare had the highest number of Ukrainians per local area.
The CSO was able to track the location of Ukrainian arrivals to local electoral area based on data from the Department of Social Protection.
Last week the Government ran out of space for Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers in State-provided accommodation at the Citywest conference centre in Dublin, forcing more than 300 people to stay in the old terminal building in Dublin Airport on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman, whose department oversees accommodation for Ukrainians, said there were no Ukrainians sleeping at Dublin Airport on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights as the numbers in Citywest fell to 780 from a full capacity of more than 1,000.
Mr O’Gorman told RTE’s Morning Ireland that a second welcome centre for refugees would open in “the next two to three weeks” and the first tranche of refurbished accommodation from the Department of Housing, offering 500 spaces, would be handed over next week.
The tented village at Gormanstown army camp in Co Meath will open tomorrow (Tues), accommodating up to 150 people initially with a capacity for 350, he said.
The minister said he expected the tents, each of which will provide accommodation for up to 16 people, would only be used to accommodate people for up to a week at a time.
Mr O’Gorman defended the State’s response to accommodating people displaced by the Ukrainian war, saying that there had been a “surge” in arrivals over the last week.
“We are in a wartime situation and in a wartime situation you experience surges of refugees arriving and we have experienced a surge over the last six to eight weeks. We link it to the increase in attacks on civilian populations throughout Ukraine,” he said.
